Advance Australia Fair Part 1
by Briskey
Summary: When the newly formed Australian team is sent on its first mission, there are more problems than the briefing indicated. Colonel Rick Moss must put up with a team that he didn't choose, including the obnoxious Captain Swan and Moss's old flame.


_Ok, this is my first fanfic to be read by anyone but me. Please be honest if you review it. I probably have some format problems either format of writing format in general. I apologise for this in advance and if you point it out then I can learn. My main focus is the story and its development. So tell me what you think of the concept and I would really appreciate some feedback on the characters themselves._

_So please read it and I hope you enjoy my work._

* * *

**Stargate: SG-23**

**"Advance Australia Fair"**

**Part 1**

The recycled air of the Cheyenne Mountain complex hit Lieutenant Colonel Rick Moss like a brick wall. The cement walls made him feel uncomfortably imprisoned within the confines of his new post.

He was a tall stocky country boy, used to the farm life he had in his Australian childhood. His Brown hair was newly cut to the perfect military style and wanted to look all business for his first SGC appearance. He would have fit in perfectly if he weren't wearing his Royal Australian Army uniform. With it he stuck out like a sore thumb amongst the sea of blue USAF uniforms and fatigues. He stood in the lift but as it began to close he heard a familiar voice call out.

"Hold the door!" shouted the feminine voice.

Moss held the door open as the woman stepped through the metal door and stood next to him. She straightened her glasses and hair unconsciously and looked up to see who had chivalrously held the door for her.

"Major, why is it that when I heard that Australia was finally being involved with the Stargate Program, I immediately thought you would be inducted?" she said indignantly.

"Because I'm the best man for the job, doctor", Moss quipped sternly, "And it's Colonel now."

Both stood in silence for a while until smirks spread across their faces and they started laughing. They turned to give each other a hug.

"It's good to see you Rick."

"You too Sarah, what are you doing here?" Moss looked at her with great fondness which she caught and returned in kind.

"I was called over from Washington to analyse something for Daniel Jackson."

"Well look at you, called on for consults by the great Dr. Jackson" Moss said with amazement.

Still in the embrace the two looked at each other in silence until the lift doors slid open. Standing there waiting for the two was a small bespectacled man wearing the nametag of "Chief Walter Harriman".

"Oh, uh, I didn't know that you two knew each other" spoke the chief.

Rick and Sarah disengaged their hold and stepped out of the lift as the doors closed.

"Oh, we don't know each other" Moss said straight-faced, generating a smirk across Sarah's.

Walter raised his eyebrows in surprise, seemingly uncomprehending the joke but carried on anyway.

"General Landry would like to see you, Sir, in his office and Dr. Barlow, Dr. Daniel Jackson would like to see you in his office, floor 28" said the little bald man who gestured for Colonel Moss to move ahead down the corridor.

"I will see you later Sarah" Rick said as he walked in the direction of General Landry's office.

"Go talk shop with the boss, I'll be in the mess later" Sarah shouted down the hall, her voice echoing through the concrete walls.

* * *

General Landry's office was quite small compared with the topside offices that Moss had seen since his flight over from Sydney. Going through a gruelling military sightseeing tour of Washington trying to get the proper clearance and papers from the Bureaucrats on the comfortable surface, had given him a good glimpse into the life of a Desk General. He knew from Landry's office that it was situated here purely for convenience and its proximity to the Stargate control room. Sitting at the smallish but still traditionally oak desk was General Landry. Colonel Moss stood to attention and saluted, Landry returned the salute and stood to shake Moss's hand.

"At ease, welcome Colonel, please sit."

The General sat down and gestured for Moss to do so as well.

"Actually sir, I'd prefer to stand, if it's all the same" Moss said as he relaxed his stance.

General Landry squinted his eyes as he looked Moss up and down trying to see through the military training and get a glimpse of the real Rick Moss. Landry did this for only a moment and then picked up Moss's file from his desk. The manila folder was stamped with **PRIVATE**, **CONFIDENTIAL**, **TOP SECRET** as well as half a dozen Australian and American military stamps. Landry must have noticed Moss's stare and looked at the folder himself.

"We like to label things precisely here at the SGC" joked the General.

The large Australian Colonel smiled. Moss had always had a good sense of humour, mainly attributed to his Grandfather's constant joking, he thought. Landry looked through the documents in the file and then placed it on the desk. He leaned back in his leather chair and looked up at Moss, opening the discussion for questions. Moss let fly.

"Sir, when do I get to choose my team?" Moss sounded a little impatient, due mainly to the desk jockeys in Washington.

"Your team was selected by your government along with you, you should have received their files weeks ago" Landry said curiously.

This was the first that Colonel Moss had heard of it, he wasn't happy. He had been assured that he could choose his own team, and now he was going to be issued a team like a new sidearm. Landry could tell that Moss was irritated by this news.

"That's the military for you, I've read the reports on your men, they sound very capable" said the General picking up three other files that had been stamped to death too.

"Sir with all respect, I don't want capable, I want the best" Moss spoke firmly.

It was true, If he was going to have to lead these people to God knows where, then he would have to know that he could trust them and their abilities.

"Spoken like a true leader, but sadly your government and military has taken that task out of your hands" He passed the files over the desk to Moss who took them, trying hard not to snatch them from his CO's hand.

"Is my team here, Sir?"

Moss flicked through the first file. The Captain's name was Nigel Swan. His photograph made him look arrogant, his blonde hair and blue eyes making him look more pretty than soldierly.

"Your men will be meeting in the briefing room at 13:00 hours, I suggest that you put your things in your on-base room and get some lunch, your first mission will be at 15:00 hours. Any Questions," Landry looked as though he wanted to finish the conversation, and so Moss let him. "Good" Landry said, ushering Moss out of the door.

After the exchange of salutes, the General shut the door and left Colonel Moss to go about his business. The stocky man was still annoyed about his team being chosen for him but what could he do now? Moss resigned to search for his bunk. He needed sleep, it was going to be a long day.

* * *

As Dr. Sarah Barlow turned the corner into Daniel Jackson's messy office she felt right at home. The artefacts strewn about on the desks and hung on the walls reminded her of her flat back home in Australia. She felt comforted by the sight of archaic sculpture and texts. She had visited once before, just before she left with the Atlantis mission. She had missed the musty smell of old books during her trip home on the Prometheus. All that had smelled like was, well nothing, not like this office. As she surveyed the hundreds of items in the room she was surprised by the sudden appearance of Dr. Jackson popping up from behind the table.

"Oh! Doctor, you made me jump!" Sarah squealed, putting her hand to her heart.

Daniel looked like he had more important things on his mind, as usual his thoughtful yet vacant stare betrayed him. Sarah had met Daniel at many conferences over the years and knew that he was always thinking.

"Sorry about that Dr. Barlow but I seem to have lost my field notes" He patted his pants pockets.

"You can call me Sarah, Dr. Jackson" she looked under some books in order to help him.

Jackson looked under his desk again. After a brief moment he shouted followed by a large jolt of the desk prompting Jackson to crawl out rubbing his head.

"Found it! Oh and call me Daniel."

In his hand was the small notebook that had caused so much searching and commotion. The archaeologist began flipping through it absentmindedly. Sarah just stood observing him.

"You asked to see me?" she said curiously.

Sarah had been on base for a week but had never been in Dr. Jackson's office. She wondered why she had been invited now. Jackson kept flipping through his book until he found his page.

"Yes, I need your opinion on something"

Sarah tried to hide her overwhelming enthusiasm. She was being asked to help the earth's number one archaeologist and anthropologist decipher something. It was a dream come true. She looked over at the notebook that had a sketch of what was definitely an Aztec calendar.

"Well, its certainly Mesoamerican, Aztec calendar by the looks of things" Sarah said thoughtfully.

Her thoughts weren't on what it was, she knew that, but why would Dr. Jackson need her to tell him that?

"Look closer, I know its just a sketch but is there anything different about it to you?" He said with his hand on his chin in speculative thought.

Sarah squinted at the drawing through her glasses, the calendar looked normal except that it had remnants of another ring around the outside. She looked closer and immediately saw what had made Daniel so excited.

"There are three Stargate symbols!" she exclaimed, her voice echoing through the concrete room.

Daniel Jackson still looked thoughtful but a smile spread across his face. He was probably just happy to have someone on the base who was as excited about this as he was. Daniel then moved quickly to his desk and picked up a book. He opened it up with a haste that only comes with passion, and pointed at a photo. Sarah looked down and saw another calendar, this one weathered, clearly from earth, with no extra ring.

"What do you see?" Daniel asked excitedly, no passionately.

Sarah studied it but found nothing in particular strange about it. Daniel noticed her furrowed brow and decided to point out his discovery to her. His finger gently tapped on the photograph.

"Oh my God!" was all she could say.

There at the bottom of the calendar was a small fragment connected to the main body. On the fragment was two more of the gate symbols. The Aztecs must have known about the gate. Sarah looked up at Daniel to see his eyes light up, he knew that she was all the confirmation he needed to report this to General Landry. With a bit of research, SG-1 would be there within a week, or so he thought.

* * *

After changing from his uniform, Moss put on a set of fatigues and followed the maps to the mess hall. The mess was quite a friendly looking place compared with the other bases that he had seen. It had the essence of a cafeteria more than an actual mess hall. He took a piece of cake from the counter and moved over to a table with some other officers. They all introduced themselves. The other officers were of his rank and spoke freely amongst themselves while he ate his cake. Moss felt like he had been forgotten until Colonel Mitchell addressed him directly.

"Moss," Mitchell looked at Rick's name patch, "I hear you couldn't choose your own team, is that true?"

Moss thought for a moment and then, gesturing with his fork, replied.

"Unfortunately yes, but I have confidence in my superiors enough to choose -" Rick was cut off.

"Hello Americans! I…AM…NEW…TAKE…ME…TO…YOUR…LEADER!" Bellowed the, upper class Australian voice.

All eyes turned towards the door where there stood a tall, blonde haired, blue eyed Australian Captain wearing sunglasses. Following him were two American non-com soldiers carrying the Captain's luggage. He obviously hadn't seen Moss because of his next comment.

"Can anybody tell me where LTCOL. Moss is? I need to report to the bastard by 11:00 hours and I've got better things to do" shouted the Captain.

The American soldiers were still sore about his entrance when Moss stood up. The sight of an Australian officer's fatigues caught the man by surprise.

"I believe you were looking for me, Captain…?" Moss let the shocked subordinate fill in the rest.

"CAPT. Nigel Swan," then he begrudgingly tacked on, "Sir."

Moss walked over to Swan with a commanding stride but with an air of calm about him. The room was quiet as the solid officer stood before the boisterous young man. Everyone expected something to happen, but what ever they were waiting for it surely wasn't what took place.

"You are part of SG-23? I take it that you are my second?" Moss asked militaristically.

Swan stared into Moss's eyes to see what was going to happen next but didn't get anything from it.

"Yes Sir, I'm also the best sniper in the Australian Army" Swan said smugly.

Moss removed the sunglasses from Swan's head and took a step back to look his second up and down. Everything of Swan's uniform was perfect except for his trousers, they obviously hadn't been pressed recently.

"Captain what is the reason for your sloppy appearance?"

Swan looked down and then locked eyes with Moss once more.

"Sir! It is very hard to have a quickie without having your pants around your ankles, Sir!" This was said with a wink and much gusto prompting a few giggles from a table of nurses in the corner of the room.

Swan smirked, he knew just what to do. Sounding as uninterested as he could, he continued.

"Well it's good to see you have your priorities right."

Swan smiled. He looked like a Cheshire cat.

"Thankyou Sir" Swan replied.

"I suggest that you get those trousers pressed before I see you for our briefing, we cant have our Australian officers walking about in crinkled pants" Moss said amusingly.

"Will do Sir."

"Dismissed Captain" Moss said.

The other officers looked amongst themselves as Moss wound up his disciplinary talk. Captain Swan saluted and turned to leave but was called back immediately.

"Captain where are you going?"

Swan looked confused.

"I'm going to get my pants pressed, don't you remember old fella?"

This latest insult made Colonel Moss grin, this time he was the Cheshire cat.

"Did you not hear me, Captain? I said that we cant have Australian officers walking about with crinkled pants" Moss said glibly placing Swan's sunglasses on himself.

Swan looked down at his trousers and then up to Colonel Moss. The Colonel had folded his arms and raised his eyebrows in a patient expression of expectancy.

"Crap" Swan muttered.

Colonel Moss stood and watched with the rest of the mess hall as the obnoxious Captain Swan took off his pants. The crowd laughed and whistled as the embarrassed and humiliated man marched out of the room. The other officers all patted Rick on the back as he sat back down to finish his cake.

* * *

The briefing room was furnished well, with a big wooden conference table and comfortable leather chairs. LTCOL. Moss was the only one of his team there at the moment, the rest were apparently late. This tardiness was creating a tension in the quiet room. General Landry looked at his watch and then at Colonel Moss. Moss shrugged.

"Sir, with all respect, I didn't choose them" he said without sounding too resentful.

Moss still hadn't read the personnel reports that General Landry had given him. He had just put them in his quarters before he had gone to the mess so he had no idea of who else could be on his team. In fact he had only met one of them and he didn't like him at all.

As Moss thought about the previous event, Captain Swan himself walked in wearing fatigues. He saluted to the General and sat down.

"It's good to see you are on time, Captain" General Landry remarked sarcastically.

"Its also good to see you with pants on too" Colonel Moss snickered.

The General looked back and forth between the two sides of the table. He had apparently not heard of the incident. Just before he could ask about the comment, Sarah Barlow hurried in. Now also wearing fatigues, she had with her a bundle of papers and a few books. Sarah placed the items on the table and sat down. The General smiled as he finally started the briefing.

"Now, I'd like to first, officially welcome SG-23 into active service"

"Thankyou, Sir" said Moss.

Moss looked over the table at his old flame. He wasn't surprised that Sarah was on his team, it seemed too big a coincidence that she would be back from the Atlantis base just as he showed up. So he wasn't surprised, he also wasn't pleased. As far as he knew, Sarah had never had any military training and thus could be an impediment in a fire fight.

Also on his team was the insufferable Captain Swan who still looked sore about their first meeting. To add insult to injury, Moss had Swan's sunglasses hanging off of his uniform. The Australian Colonel was certainly not happy with his team, but he couldn't change it, not now. Moss would have to wait until there was a personnel review in a month or so.

"Now, down to business" the General spoke with a very relaxed yet commanding tone.

All eyes were on General Landry. All except Captain Swan who just looked aimlessly around the room.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I was going to give you a simple mission to relieve SG-4 on P3X-191 but a few moments ago we were contacted by Thor. He told us that one of the Asgard prison ships was on a transfer and had to make a crashlanding on P3X-896. They haven't heard from it since" said Landry in a very sincere voice.

"Who was on the ship?" Sarah asked.

"Loki" answered Landry gravely.

Colonel Moss thought back to the mission reports that he had read on the plane over to America. He remembered that Loki had been an Asgard scientist who went rouge and cloned, then Colonel, Jack O'Neill. Moss couldn't recall the reason but it had caused some havoc in the SGC. He did know that Loki was caught and placed in the hands of the Asgard.

"So our mission is to go to P3X-896 and see if there are any survivors" Moss assumed.

The General nodded, he was right.

"You leave right now" The General stood up.

The team stood with him and Moss and Swan saluted. At that moment three soldiers came into the room and escorted the three Australians into the gate room. Once there, they were given their equipment as the gate dialled. The two men were given the full issue equipment and Sarah was handed a sidearm. Moss looked at her.

"Do you know how to use that thing?" He asked bluntly.

"You just worry about yourself, Colonel" She said with a smile patting the gun strapped to her leg.

The gate finished dialling and Moss heard the voice of the little bald chief over the loudspeaker.

"Chevron 7 locked!"

A burst brilliant blue leapt from the gate and then as quickly and magnificently as it had appeared, it went back to create a gentle vertical pool. Captain Swan stepped up next to Moss and Sarah.

"Well lets go, kids!" he yelled.

The blonde soldier ran up the ramp.

"Wait for us, Swan!" barked Moss.

It was too late, Swan had jumped through the wormhole with an exuberance that almost redeemed his arrogance. Sarah shrugged, ran up and through the gate. Colonel moss was now the only Australian on base, but not for long. He walked up the ramp and then jumped through the blue portal.

* * *

P3X-896 was covered with fog and even if the team could see their surroundings, it was just a barren wasteland. The three Australians stood on the gate steps as the wormhole disconnected. It's light now gone, Moss and Swan turned on their gun lights. Colonel Moss started moving through the fog.

"Look out for the MALP, it should be around here-" his sentence was cut off by a loud clanging followed by a grunt of frustration. Captain Swan had apparently found the MALP.

"The Asgard said that she ship should be a little further ahead" said Sarah as she looked around with a torch.

The three navigated their way around some craters in the ground and headed forward. Moss took point as the team proceeded through the thick haze. As they walked, Swan started a conversation.

"So, any of you miss home?" asked Swan.

It was a legitimate question, but Moss had more important things to do than make small talk.

"I haven't seen home in about two years" Sarah Barlow said as she stepped over a crater.

Swan kept his eyes looking around the immediate area as he spoke.

"Still call Australia home huh?" quipped Swan.

"So what made you join the military, Captain?" asked Moss from up ahead.

This was a question that he had wanted answered since he first met the man. Swan paused for a moment and then spoke up.

"My father decided that it would make a man out of me, give me some sense before I took over the family business" a tone of scorn in his voice.

Moss had found something to relate to. He himself was encouraged to join by his father, but Moss thought it was the best decision he had ever had made for him. The Moss family had a long line of military men.

"What was the family business" Sarah asked, her foot squelching in a puddle.

"What?" Swan said, obviously not comprehending the question.

"What was your family business?" Sarah repeated, a little more irritated now.

Captain Swan laughed out loud as he moved over some rough terrain. Sarah was not impressed, but waited for him to finish.

"My last name is Swan."

Moss, who had been listening to them for some time, perked up as he realised what the Captain was saying. Sarah didn't get it.

"What does your last name have to do with it?" She asked.

Sarah was getting tired of this game. Moss chimed in.

"The Swan Family owns half of Australia," he said indifferently, "Not to mention that they are the biggest military contractors in the Southern Hemisphere."

Swan was nodding in boastful admission. Rick was not surprised at this revelation. He had guessed that his second was a rich boy, he didn't think that rich, but none the less a rich boy. He was about to say something else when he heard a noise. The snap of a twig. Swan and Sarah heard it too and immediately crouched down. Moss looked back to Swan who had immediately moved to cover Sarah.

"Good boy" Moss thought to himself.

Signing to Captain Swan, he proceeded to move ahead carefully. He had barely moved two metres when he saw the cause of the sound. There in front of him lay the crashed prison ship, the ground around it scorched. The fires had cleared the fog in the immediate area around the small transport ship so the damage was completely visible to the Colonel. After checking the area he called for Swan and Sarah to move forward to his position. When they appeared, they gasped. It was not a pretty scene. The curved side of the craft was scorched black, the engine block had been severed and lay on the ground.

"Ok, start looking for the pilot!" Moss ordered.

The three moved through the wreckage searching for the lost pilot. Sarah, who was the only one small enough, squeezed through a hole in the side of the ship. She had to bend to walk, her pistol at the ready. The lights inside the ship flickered on and off, giving eerie glimpses of the smoky interior. It was a single room ship, next to her was what looked like a stasis field. It had been deactivated, probably by the crash. She looked around for the prisoner, Loki. There was no sight of the little Asgard scientist. Ahead was the cockpit. The lights flickered back on and Sarah saw the pilot. His body was hunched over the control panel, he was dead. Sarah put her hand over her mouth in horror.

The pilot was truly dead, but not from the crash. His back lacerated, by some sort of weapon, she could see that by the heavy downward impact of the wound. Wasting no time, Sarah picked up the pilot's body and moved towards the tear in the hull that she had entered from. The team's archaeologist had moved past the stasis field when the ship started creaking.

Moss and Swan looked up from the scattered wreckage as the hulk groaned. The back of the ship began to shake and in a matter of moments, the hole that Sarah had crawled through was gone. Moss ran around to try and move the rubble but it was pointless. There was no way that it would be cleared by two people. He was about to bang on the hull until he remembered his radio.

"Sarah are you ok? Over."

He released the call button and heard nothing but a static hiss.

"Sarah are you ok? Over" he repeated.

Swan was desperately looking for another entrance into the craft, but not being familiar with Asgard ship design he had no idea. Moss tried to listen through the wreckage. Faintly he heard the coughing of the trapped woman. There would be plenty of smoke to asphyxiate her in there. He had only moments to make the decision.

"Swan, give me your grenades!" Moss barked.

Swan looked curious but didn't stop to argue, not this time. The two grenades landed at the Colonel's feet. Moss immediately picked them up and placed them under the forward part of the hull. Pulling the pins out, he ran as far as he could, landing in a ditch next to Swan. The explosion rattled the wreckage. Moss and Swan stepped out and ran towards the ship. They cleared the smoke away with their hands and found a large enough hole for a thin man like Swan to walk through.

Moss didn't need to tell his subordinate what to do. The brash Captain ran into the ship and quickly pulled Sarah and the pilot out. He lay them on the ground giving Sarah as much room as possible. Moss checked her pulse, she was alive. Her breathing was laboured but she would be fine. Moss looked at Swan and gave him a nod of approval. The kid had proven to be a pain in the arse but he was a good soldier.

As the smoke dispersed, Moss took the opportunity to look over the pilot. The little, frail body was face down on the ground and Moss could see the wounds on it's back. In a gesture of respect, Swan turned the alien body over so it was face up.

"Jesus!" Swan yelled.

Moss looked down at the corpse and had the same reaction, although not out loud. The small body had cut markings all over his torso. The pilot had carved what looked like a Stargate address into his dying body. The image was macabre and the expression on Moss and Swan's faces said it all.

This was going to be an interesting mission.

"**Advance Australia Fair" Part 2, Coming Soon…**


End file.
